Python in Bali Strangles Security Guard at Luxury Hotel (Video)

A 15-foot-long python strangled a security guard to death near a luxury hotel in Bali Friday and local police and wildlife officials are still on the hunt for the massive snake.

Ambar Arianto Mulyo, 59, was working as a security guard at the Bali Hyatt beachfront hotel in the early hours of Friday morning when he spotted the serpent and attempted to catch it. Police told Agence France-Presse that Mulyo grabbed the python's head and tail and attempted to put it on his shoulders but the reptile was too long and managed to wrap itself around his neck.

The python reportedly slithered away before police and wildlife officers could capture it. Mulyo's body was later taken to RSUP Sanglah Denpasar Hospital.

"The victim died on the spot as his neck was crushed and he could not breath," Gusti Ngurah Yudistira, the head of the police criminal investigations unit covering the Sanur area of the Indonesian island, told AFP. "We urge residents and tourists to stay on the alert."